Emirates Restores Melbourne-Singapore Connection

Emirates will add a third daily service to Melbourne and return to the Melbourne-Singapore route from 26 March 2023.

It comes as Emirates also expands services to Sydney, Brisbane and Christchurch, marking a significant increase in the Qantas partner’s capacity between Australia, New Zealand and Dubai.

Emirates already has two daily, non-stop Airbus A380 flights between Melbourne and Dubai. From late March, a third daily Boeing 777-300ER service will operate from Melbourne to Dubai via Singapore.

Emirates has fifth-freedom rights on the Melbourne-Singapore route, meaning it’s possible to buy a ticket just for this portion of the flight and start or end your journey in Singapore. The Melbourne-Singapore leg will operate with the following timings:

• EK405 Melbourne 02:25 – Singapore 08:15 (departs Melbourne 03:25 during Daylight Savings)
• EK404 Singapore 10:25 – Melbourne 19:35 (arrives Melbourne 20:35 during Daylight Savings)

While the bleary-eyed 2.25am departure time from Melbourne is unlikely to appeal to leisure travellers, the possibility of a daytime service from Singapore to Melbourne could be good news for some.

Emirates previously operated a daily Melbourne-Singapore service prior to the pandemic, with a 6pm departure time from Melbourne and a mid-afternoon departure from Singapore on the way back. The Dubai-based airline had planned to switch the service to the new timings shown above in March 2020, but instead had to axe the route due to COVID-19.

Emirates also used to operate several other fifth-freedom flights between Australia and Asia, including Melbourne-Kuala Lumpur, Sydney-Bangkok and Brisbane-Singapore. Those routes were cancelled before the pandemic and haven’t returned.

More Emirates flights to Sydney and Brisbane

Emirates today confirmed that from 26 March 2023, it will resume operating daily fifth-freedom tag flights across the Tasman between Sydney and Christchurch. This service will be operated by a four-class Airbus A380 with Economy, Premium Economy, Business Class and First Class seating.

The Sydney-Christchurch service will have the following timing:

• EK412 Sydney 07:50 – Christchurch 12:55
• EK413 Christchurch 17:45 – Sydney 19:05

You can redeem Qantas Frequent Flyer points to fly with Emirates. Award availability on Emirates has been quite limited lately on most Australian routes, but there is currently plenty of Business and First Classic Reward availability on the Sydney-Christchurch route.

You could book an Emirates Business reward seat from Sydney to Christchurch for 43,800 Qantas points + $180 one-way. The cost for First Class is 64,500 Qantas points + $180 one-way.

Additionally, from 1 May 2023, Emirates will add a third daily non-stop flight between Sydney and Dubai. This extra flight will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER and run alongside the two existing Airbus A380 flights on the route.

The extra Sydney-Dubai flight will run to the following schedule from May:

• EK417 Sydney 20:10 – Dubai 04:30 (+1 day)
• EK416 Dubai 21:30 – Sydney 17:20 (+1 day)

Emirates also announced last week that it would offer a second daily Brisbane-Dubai flight from June 2023. The additional Brisbane service is being supported by the Queensland government’s Attracting Aviation Investment Fund.

This new Boeing 777-300ER service will run to the following timetable:

• EK431 Brisbane 02:50 – Dubai 11:00
• EK430 Dubai 02:30 – Brisane 22:20

A significant capacity increase

Most of these extra flights will use Emirates’ Boeing 777 aircraft.

If you have a choice, the Emirates A380 is a better aircraft than the Boeing 777 because it has a better product in all classes of travel. On the A380, the Economy seats are wider, all Business seats have direct aisle access and First Class passengers have access to on-board showers. The Airbus A380 also features a bar on the upper deck for Business and First Class passengers.

Nonetheless, Emirates’ latest expansion of capacity into Australia is much-needed as demand soars and international airfares remain stubbornly high.

“Adding a third daily service to Sydney and Melbourne will offer over 500,000 additional seats to and from Australia in a year. To have the two cities operating back at pre-pandemic frequencies is a phenomenal milestone in our restoration of Australia capacity and testament to our longstanding commitment to flying down under,” Emirates Divisional Vice President Australasia Barry Brown said.

Hopefully, the increased capacity will also result in more Classic Flight Reward seat availability for Qantas Frequent Flyer members – who currently have very few options to redeem their points to Europe.

Unfortunately, even if Emirates does start to release more reward seats to/from Australia, its carrier charges remain outrageously high when booking with Emirates Skywards miles or Qantas points.

As an alternative to using Qantas points or Skywards miles, you can redeem Air Canada Aeroplan points for Emirates flights without paying any fuel surcharges. When booking with Aeroplan points, you’ll just pay the third-party taxes and a CAD39 (~AU$42) partner award booking fee.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.